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Our New Old Car
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And please don’t forget the most important item:
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Jon,
Once you made the decision to stray from original as it was in 1950 you should incorporate tech items for dependability.
Monitoring the new components will give you piece of mind along with accurate readings. I like the dash and the sensors installed on the new engine will correspond. That instrument cluster is pretty cool.
Stick with us Jon, ……we’ll help you build your new toad.
Jon with our help
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Jon,
We put one of these hidden systems in a classic:
Works well, good sound, and out of sight.
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That’s a good idea Les.
Al, all you want to do is spend my money. Anyway I have to have some projects to work on when I get the car home.
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Kind of like Artie Shaw in the old series …. Laugh In … Verrrrrrrrrrrry Interesting. Will be something to watch this morp into something completely different or competitive amongst the members of the clan in the future. Driving and maintaining a thirty-one year old hoopie, I can appreciate this labor of love or change over.
Good luck.
<>DS<>
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I think you will need air bags and a roll bar!
JIM
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Why Not? Because! Hi Don. See your back. 36 dodge 1 1/2 to on 550 ford E chassi(1999)—Parts getter…. Bob
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I should have known Jon would poo-poo any electronic advancements that aren’t forced upon him. So, I guess that new 302 V-8 won’t be fuel injected, either. Didn’t they have generators then instead of alternators. The good news with the old regulator was you could burnish the relay contacts when they wouldn’t engage. 1950…wasn’t the electrical system 6 volts then? I guess that stays too. No need to look at modern tires either. Even though much safer, here’s a place you can buy some bias ply wide white walls: http://www.cokertire.com/brands/coker-classic-tires/coker-classic-bias-ply-wide-whitewall.html
Come on Jon if you are going to do such an extensive restoration and modernization, you should have the whole job done.
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Got to go with Jon on this one. Updated chassis, brakes and tires…yes. Lrave as much of the rest original. Of course the updating would include 12v.
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It will be 12 volts with an alternator. The 302 has a carb. No ABS. No air bags, but it will have seat belts. It has radial blackwall tires that are similar in size to the originals.
The ignition will be electronic, no points.
I may even retain the vacuum wipers.
I am thinking of adding LED light bars in the rear for parking, brake and turn signal lights because the little tailights common in 1950 are inadequate on today’s roads where people tailgate while texting. I just haven’t figured out how to have them on the car without them detracting from the original appearance.
Right now when complete I will consider it a work in process and it may evolve to include digital gauges or even some fancy radio, but as a toad the vast majority of its miles will be accumulated being dragged down the road and not from over the road touring. We have almost never had to refuel our toad when we have been traveling so it is unlikely we even need a radio because when we travel it will be used for just local driving.
It will start its new life looking pretty good but as a toad we all know the finish gets beat up so I will attempt to keep it looking good, but have no intent to keep it as a show car. I want a reliable, modern (a relative term) drivetrain that will be easy to tow and fun to drive. The miles add up from towing. We average 2500 miles of driving per year on each of our cars, our H2 that we tow reflects that but not the 100,000 miles he have towed it. I have already had to replace the front hubs on the H2 because of the number of miles even though it shows about 24,000 miles on the odometer. The Ford will likely experience the same accumulation of miles so the driveline is far more important than digital gauges.
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Jon, some of my friends have added a LED “third brake light”
to the rear window parcel tray. Some are fairly inconspicuous and obviously do
not change the exterior appearance. Also, since a third brake light is
unexpected on an old car, it tends to be noticed by the cars behind you. -
So far my thinking is to either run a LED ribbon row of lights under the trunk lid, full width, or as you suggest use the hat shelf for full funtion lights. I think that is something I have to play with to get the best compromise between enough lighting for safety, and something that isn’t taking people’s eyes away from the standard old car look.
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Jon, to raise awareness of braking for those following and too close admired by your car, add one of these to your 3rd brake light: http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/strobe-controllers/brake-light-strobe-module/194/844/ This is legal for motorcycles and emergency vehicles. I have one on all of my bus brake lights and have never had a problem with LE.
Vacuum wipers…too funny. This is an all original, to include paint, 40 Caddy I owned. The vacuum wipers worked well unless accelerating.
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That is a sweet ride. My grandfather was a Buick guy and I can remember he had a few from around that vintage.
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This topic is hilarious. For someone who doesn’t want to talk to strangers along the journey, you are inviting conversation at every stop with an attractine nuisance and how will Roger and Mickey get into that back seat.
Just sayin, JIM
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